英语博客：An Elizabethan Collar.

 　　Do you ever check your bills? It's a good practice(1), but sometimes seems unnecessary. If you do, however, you might find the occasional odd charge, or you might have a question about something on the bill that you don't recognize. That is exactly what happened to me last week when I took my dog, Rosie, to the vet¹. The poor thing had a skin infection of some kind. Apparently² it was the result of an allergy³. She obviously felt itchy because she would scratch herself all over. Well, the vet got to the bottom of (2)the problem, gave her a medicinal (3)bath and prescribed antibiotics⁴ and steroids. As I sat in the waiting room, I looked over(4) the bill and spotted⁵(5) an item that immediately made me curious: an Elizabethan collar. I blinked because I thought I had misread(6) the words. An Elizabethan collar, no I wasn't mistaken; those were the words written, along with the pills, the bath, and the ear cleaning. A mental picture of Queen Elizabeth I came to my mind, with her wide, ruffled⁶ collar. What was she doing back there with the animals? Pet owners can never really know what is going on beyond(7) the waiting room. Perhaps the vet likes historical costumes....Maybe her assistants dress up all the animals to put on a Tudor play, “Ok people we need an Elizabeth, a Henry VIII, and a Mary Queen of Scots, … and a few servants and advisers⁷ of course. Rosie, if you want to play Elizabeth, make sure you put on her collar..., and get ready for that Armada scene, ok?” “Woof!” replies Rosie. Oh my! My imagination can certainly run wild(8) when I'm bored! So, I asked the lady behind the counter about the Elizabethan collar, and she told me that it's just a plastic cone⁸ that is put around the dog's head so it doesn't scratch it's ears. Oh, well that's disappointing. It's not even frilly(9). My idea was far more interesting.

　　'A good practice' is something that you do that is beneficial, practical, or helpful.

　　a. It's good practice to double check that your doors are locked.

　　b. Helping⁹ your neighbors is a good practice.

　　'To get to the bottom of...' is to find the solution or the answer.

　　a. The detective got to the bottom of the crime.

　　b. We need to get to the bottom of what happened.

　　'Medicinal' means 'of medicine'. It is used when we refer to a treatment.

　　a. He put a medicinal wrap on his wound.

　　b. That tea is medicinal; it has many health benefits.

　　'To look over..' is often used when we talk about examining a document of some kind, a collection of information, or a list.

　　a. We looked over the plans for the house and found three things that we didn't like.

　　b. I looked over the phone bill; it was higher than last month.

　　'To spot' something is 'to notice'.

　　a. I spotted her orange coat in the crowd.

　　b. I've spotted a family of doves in my back garden.

　　'To misread' means to read incorrectly. The prefix¹⁰ 'mis' shows an error or negative slant¹¹ given to the verb. Similar words are: mistake, mismanage, misinform. Notice, the past of 'to misread' is spelt exactly the same but pronounced 'misread'.

　　a. I misread the highway directions, and ended up in Canada instead of Idaho!

　　b. Read slowly so you don't misread the words.

　　The use of 'beyond' here shows three things: distance, separation, and mystery. It is the context that gives 'beyond' those meanings. Normally, 'beyond' means 'further on from/ than', especially when you are giving directions. However, because 'beyond' often refers to a place that is not yet seen, there can be an element of mystery attached to it.

　　a. I love the series 'Stories from beyond the grave'; it's really scary.

　　b. God exists probably beyond space and time, beyond what we see.

　　To have your 'imagination run wild' is an expression that is self explanatory.

　　a. When you write this descriptive essay, let your imagination run wild.

　　b. When the kids are playing, their imaginations run wild.

　　'Frilly' refers to the 'ruffled' collar in the paragraph. It describes material that is folded, wavy¹², or doubled, often with delicate edges.

　　a. The edge of the skirt is frilly; it looks like a country dress.

　　b. Queen Elizabeth's collar was very wide and very frilly.

　　Remember to join me on FACEBOOK at Anna Fromacupofenglish; you're all invited. If you have questions or comments feel free to email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you. There is an app available for your smart phone called A Cup Of English in iTunes.

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1 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

2 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

3 allergy   

n.(因食物、药物等而引起的)过敏症

参考例句：

• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。
• The patient had an allergy to penicillin.该患者对青霉素过敏。

4 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

5 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

6 ruffled   

adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She ruffled his hair affectionately. 她情意绵绵地拨弄着他的头发。
• All this talk of a strike has clearly ruffled the management's feathers. 所有这些关于罢工的闲言碎语显然让管理层很不高兴。

7 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

8 cone   

n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果

参考例句：

• Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
• The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 prefix   

n.前缀；vt.加…作为前缀；置于前面

参考例句：

• We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
• In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。

11 slant   

v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向

参考例句：

• The lines are drawn on a slant.这些线条被画成斜线。
• The editorial had an antiunion slant.这篇社论有一种反工会的倾向。

12 wavy   

adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• She drew a wavy line under the word.她在这个词的下面画了一条波纹线。
• His wavy hair was too long and flopped just beneath his brow.他的波浪式头发太长了，正好垂在他的眉毛下。